Journeyman metal head Snowy Shaw (ex-King Diamond/Mercyful Fate/Dream Evil/Notre Dame…) is back again with another band, but this time, he’s tackling glam with a dash of the pop and punk that you would expect from that genre Quite a number of these songs give a Wildhearts vibe.

The songs are simple, easy to sing along to and in your face. That’s really all you need for good rock ‘n’ roll. Shaw does a decent job on vocals. I can hear traces of Axl Rose, Zakk Wylde, Alice Cooper and The 69 Eyes’ Jyrki 69.

Hopefully, Shaw’s interest will not wane as it seems to do with so many of his projects. This is a solid debut and I’d love to hear what XXX could do on their sophomore release.

Being a comic book fan, I like the theme of XXX being “The Superheroes of Sweden”. Album art was provided by Al Rio, who has worked for DC Comics and Marvel Comics.